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While the public favors cleaner fuels, understanding of how energy gets from the wellhead to the gas tank remains low. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Americans want more natural gas, but they don't favor the hydraulic fracturing process used to produce it. That's the findings of a recent University of Texas survey in which 80 percent of the respondents said they want the feds to push natural gas development.

Part of the reason for the disconnect, of course, is the anti-fracking campaigns of environmental groups who claim the drilling process taints groundwater, causes earthquakes and uses too much water. Much of the public discourse over fracking has focused on its potential impacts, with little discussion of the potential benefits.

Among the survey respondents who claimed a familiarity with fracking, only 38 percent said they supported it, a decline from 45 percent just a few months ago.

The survey points to a broader public misunderstanding of energy issues. While many who responded said they favored natural gas because it produced fewer carbon emissions than other fossil fuels, they didn't seem to acknowledge that reaping those benefits requires widespread use of fracking.

Nine out of 10 respondents also said the government should promote renewable energy, although its not clear how many recognize that such technology is, at best, a supplemental source of energy rather than an alternative one. As it stands today, the U.S. economy can't rely on renewables alone.

The UT survey also reveals a decline in the public's overall interest in energy issues, with only 62 percent saying they were important compared with 67 percent a year earlier. With average gasoline prices falling, perhaps it's not surprising that energy issues aren't at the top of many people's list of concerns. However, it also underscores the poor job the energy industry has done of telling its story.

In the past five years, the U.S. has significantly reduced its dependence on foreign oil -- OPEC imports are down by 37 percent since 2007 -- thanks to hydraulic fracturing for both oil and natural gas. This week's anniversary of the first Arab oil embargo serves as a reminder that the ensuing four decades has done little to raise the public's understanding of energy issues.

What we’re seeing is the real disconnect between energy and the American public. In some instances, ideology may influence attitudes, but there’s unquestionably a lack of understanding across a broad swath of energy issues that affect each of us.

Environmentalists have been far more effective at raising concerns about fracking than the energy industry has been at promoting fracking's economic benefits. The American public has never had a strong grasp of the forces that provide the energy it consumes or the trade offs involved. We throw the switch and expect the lights to come on. We turn the key in the ignition and expect to get where we're going.

Meanwhile, the energy industry dismisses what it sees as public ignorance, yet it fails to promote public education. The success of fracking has given us a reprieve from a scarcity of resources that has defined our energy policy for 40 years. It represents an opportunity for the industry to reverse its past mistakes and bring the public into the discourse of America's energy future. We need a reasoned discussion of both the benefits and the costs associated with energy development. If the UT poll is any indication, though, there's still much work to do.